Method of operating trains on cable railroads



(No Model.) r

P. H. MAYOR.

METHODOFOPERATINGTRAINS 0N CABLE RAILROADS. N0.' 291 Patented Feb. 5, 1884.

mirmssfis: R INVENTOR: W

I ATTORNEYS;

UNITED STATES NT OFFICE.

PAnLi-I. MAYOR, or ownoo, New YORK.

METHOD OF OPERATING TRAlNS ON CABLE RAILROADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,049, dated February 5, 1884.

v Application mm September 15, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL H. MAYOR, of Owego, in the county of Tioga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Operating Trains on OableiRailroads, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

- This invention consists in a certain combination of the cable and locomotive systems of propulsion on railroads. It is mainly designed to be applied to steep grades, but is also applicable to varying gradesthat is, where an incline is interrupted by levels and contrary grades.

i In utilizing the cable system of propulsion as applied to inclines in which the weight of a descending train, or of a water-loaded .or

other weighted car, is madeto haul up an ascending train, I dispense with all water-wheel, stationary engine, or other fixed power, with its attendant disadvantages for operating the cable or pulley around which the cable runs, and substitute therefor the ordinary locomotive or locomotive of the train or trains-that is, a locomotive attached to the up and down trains or one of them only, and to the cable,

trains of the parallel tracks.

diate incline or steep grade, with a cable and ascending and descending cars united by said cable, and a locomotive applied to the ear, or,

it might be,train on the one track, a locomotive also being applied to the car or train of cars on the other track, if desired. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a 1011- gitudinal elevation of a double-track railroad having an incline composed of levels and r verse grades, and showing locomotives applied to both the ascending and descending These views are mainly diagrams to illustrate my improved system of propulsion.

A A in Fig. 2 represent parallel tracks of a double-track railroad having an intermediate steep grade, to. i

B is an endless wire or other rope cable for the two tracks, the same being arranged to run around freely, turning pulleys O G on the upper and lower levels, and over sultable intermediate supporting pulleys, Z). llhese pulleys may be supported on roller-bearings, to ease the run of them.

Instead of an endless cable, the pulley O on the lower level might be dispensed with and the ends of the cable be attached to the ascending or descending trains or their locomotives.

D is a car, designed to represent it lilitlll ot cars on the downtrack A, and E its ilocomotive, attached in any suitable way to the cable B; and D is a car designed to represent a train of cars on the uptrack A, and which may also have its locomotive, andjis likewise attached to the cable.

In Fig. 3, which shows the incline as composed of a series of levels and reverse grades, a a, both sets of cars or trains D D have a locomotive, E E, which are attached to the cable. By this combination of the locomotive and cable systems of propulsion a locomotive hitched onto the cable that runs the cars up and down may run off on the level at the bottom of the incline and pull the cars down on the one track and up on the other. By the addition of the cable fthe'jwork produced by the descent of the downtrain is almost entirely utilized for the propulsion of the uptrain, and the resistance to motion of the one train moderates the velocity of the other train to an extent, in many cases, which the most powerful brakes could not effect, thereby contributing to immunity from accidents on the steepest of grades. The trains can also be stopped, backed, or made to move slower at will by stopping or backing the locomotive of either train or engine of one of them, with or without application of the brakes. The pulley or pulleys over which the cable runs may be so arranged as not to interfere with the transfer of trains from an 01'- dinary track to the track or portionof a track having the cable. The tension or stretching to which the cable is subjected during the progress of the trains will be less when the engine of the uptrain is propelling, when the en- ICC) - the engine of the uptrain, or by applying the brakes to the downtrain, and the backing be accomplished by the engine of the downtrain. \Vhen, however, the downtrain in its descent of the general incline passes onto a reduced downgrade, or onto an intermediete level, or onto an upgrade, as in theconstruction of the track represented in Fig. 8, and over which.

portion or portions of the general grade said train could not pass by its own weight, then the engine of said train may be put into propelling action to pass the train over such portions. mon, owing sometimes to the topographical character of the country or to the placing of stations, which require to be on a level, or where a junction has to be established between a cable-road and an ordinary road, in which case, and for certain operations to be performed, the extremities ofthe cable road should be level, or nearly level.

When using water -weights or speciallyloaded cars, as hereinbefore referred to, in conjunction with this combination of cable and locomotive systems using locomotive-power to the train going up the incline, and also to the train going down it, I not only dispense with all stationaryengine power to move the trains, the locomotives accompanying the trains accomplishing the work, but the weight of the train moving down the incline may be greatly reduc'edbe much less, in fact, than the weight of the train going upitand any deficiency in the weight of the d'owntrain necesary to give motion to the two trains can be compensated for by the propelling-force of the locomotives.

These variations of the grade are comheavier than the train going up; The starting or stopping of the trains and their going faster or slower are also at the command of the conductor of each of the trains, the same as on an ordinary railroad, and it will materially add to safety in traveling to have each train connected with the cable provided-with a locomotive. This system of operating admits of a less bulky cable being used than when the cable is actuated by stationary power or by a water-weight or loaded car only, and the amount otpower exerted is in favor of the attached locomotives, while the manage ment of the trains is much more perfect.

Having thus described ngy invention, I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters atent-- 1. The method of operating trains on inclines of double-track cable railroads,in which, through the intervention of the cable, arranged to pass down the one track and up the other, the gravity of a descending train on the one track is used. to haul up an ascending train on the adjacent track, the same consisting in connecting with the one train a locomotiveengine for controlling the. movements of the cable and its attached trains traveling in opposite directions, substantially as specified.

I 2. In the operation of trains on inclines of double-track cable railroads,in which, through the intervention of the cable, arranged to connect trains moving on both tracks in reverse directions,the gravity o'fthe descending train is used to haul up the ascending train,the method of controlling the movement of the cable and its attached reversely-traveling trains, which consists in connecting a locomotive-engine with each of said trains, substantially as described.

IAUL ll. MAYOR.

W'itnesses:

L. FOUGl-IERRE, T. TURRIAN. 

